Nokia thinks that the time for Mobile TV is now! The company wants to highlight data from of the world's first commercial mobile TV pilots in Helsinki that shows that 41 per cent of pilot participants would be willing to purchase mobile TV services. A trial of the service, which was carried out with Digita, Elisa, MTV, Channel Four Finland (Nelonen), Nokia, TeliaSonera Finland and YLE earlier this year proved very popular, with some 58 per cent of participants saying that they believed that Mobile TV would be popular.
In general, mobile TV users spent 20 minutes a day watching mobile TV, although more active users watched between 30 to 40 minutes per session. Participants also watched mobile TV at different times from traditional TV peak hours and the services were most popular while travelling on public transport. Mobile TV also proved popular at home for entertainment and complementing main TV watching.
Pilot members were charged a monthly fee of €4.90 ($6) although half of those that took part thought €10 ($12) per month was a reasonable price to pay. Overall, users preferred fixed pricing.